US close: Stocks finish higher as central banks pile on the stimulation
Shares on Wall Street finished higher on Thursday, helped by the latest moves from authorities to offset the fallout from the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic, and the immediate effect of efforts to contain it.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 0.95% at 20,087.19, the S&P 500 added 0.47% to 2,409.39, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 2.3% to 7,150.58.
At an emergency meeting overnight, the US Federal Reserve announced measures to avoid a run on money market mutual funds, followed on Thursday morning by an announcement from the Department of Energy that it would purchase 30 million barrels of American oil by 26 March.
Financial markets were also waiting on news of Congress's eagerly anticipated fiscal stimulus plans to help shore up the economy, even as economist forecasts continue to come down.
On Thursday morning, analysts at Bank of America Securities marked down their projection for global GDP growth in 2020 to 0%, which would match the "major" recession experience in 1982 and 2009.
“The evolving news on Covid-19 has triggered ‘forecast leapfrogging,’ with economists and strategists repeatedly lowering their forecasts,” Bank of America said in a research note sent to clients.
“Here we take a big leap, as we try to make our forecast robust to the near-term news flow.”
The yield on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury note was down almost 14 basis points at 1.121%, while the two-year note fell 10.5 basis points to 0.417%, amid speculation the Fed could further ramp-up its quantitative easing.
Congress, meanwhile, was expected to unveil a package of stimulus measures worth roughly $1.3trn, with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin saying he was in support of some of that money going towards a $1,000 cash payment to every American citizen.
Nonetheless, the latest batch of economic data still made for grim reading.
According to the Department of Labor, initial jobless claims increased by 70,000 over the week ending on 14 March to reach 281,000, as the virus disrupted activity across the accommodation, food and transportation sectors, which was far worse than consensus expectations for 225,000.
Factory sector activity also weakened “significantly”, with the Philadelphia Federal Reserve’s manufacturing gauge plummeting by 49.4 points between February and March to reach -12.7, which was its biggest fall for a single month since 2012.
In equities, bulk retailer BJ’s Wholesale Club was down 13.04% even as Americans took to panic buying household essentials, while Ford Motor Company slipped 0.66% after it withdrew its 2020 guidance and suspended its dividend in a bid to shore up cash.
On the upside, Tesla was ahead 18.38% after analysts at Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock, given it had the necessary liquidity to weather the coronavirus storm.
Sports equipment retailer Dick’s Sporting Goods was 12.39% firmer, even as it said customer numbers had plunged and it was closing its stores for the next fortnight.
Dow Jones - Risers
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $149.50 8.89%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $94.93 6.90%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $149.49 6.76%
United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $83.76 5.49%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $86.07 5.36%
American Express Co. (AXP) $77.07 4.50%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $57.39 4.25%
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) $34.43 3.96%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $161.13 3.53%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $70.34 3.38%
Dow Jones - Fallers
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $48.55 -8.07%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $41.83 -6.73%
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $30.42 -6.00%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $127.05 -5.86%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $110.83 -5.64%
Boeing Co. (BA) $97.71 -4.10%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $45.94 -3.51%
International Business Machines Corporation (CDI) (IBM) $100.34 -3.10%
Walmart Inc. (WMT) $119.45 -2.55%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $53.62 -1.29%
S&P 500 - Risers
Fluor Corp. (FLR) $5.99 76.18%
Dxc Technology Company (DXC) $12.47 33.94%
ONEOK Inc. (OKE) $20.49 33.31%
Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. (HIG) $33.52 27.70%
Sealed Air Corp. (SEE) $22.00 25.36%
Universal Health Services Inc. (UHS) $84.84 25.34%
Transdigm Group Inc. (TDG) $305.77 24.40%
Darden Restaurants Inc. (DRI) $42.42 24.18%
Simon Property Group Inc. (SPG) $55.74 24.09%
Welltower Inc (WELL) $40.92 23.18%
S&P 500 - Fallers
Wisconsin Energy Corp. (WEC) $90.41 -13.51%
Consolidated Edison Inc. (ED) $80.09 -13.13%
Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV) $30.86 -12.20%
American Airlines Group (AAL) $10.29 -11.67%
Amer Water Works (AWK) $115.12 -11.50%
McCormick & Co. (MKC) $125.63 -10.92%
Kellogg Co. (K) $61.43 -10.92%
Eversource Energy (ES) $77.05 -10.67%
Dominion Energy Inc. (D) $71.85 -10.48%
Resmed Inc. (RMD) $136.10 -10.31%
Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Tesla Inc (TSLA) $427.64 18.39%
Dish Network Corp. (DISH) $21.87 16.70%
Broadcom Inc. (AVGO) $194.45 15.83%
Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance Inc. (ULTA) $146.99 14.37%
Workday, Inc. (WDAY) $126.74 11.30%
Analog Devices Inc. (ADI) $90.32 9.84%
Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) $61.41 9.02%
Asml Holdings N.V. (ASML) $214.03 8.65%
Liberty Global plc Series C (LBTYK) $16.60 8.43%
Ross Stores Inc. (ROST) $65.00 8.39%
Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
American Airlines Group (AAL) $10.29 -11.67%
Paychex Inc. (PAYX) $58.03 -8.33%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $48.55 -8.07%
Kraft Heinz Co. (KHC) $22.28 -5.95%
Idexx Laboratories Inc. (IDXX) $193.18 -5.83%
eBay Inc. (EBAY) $29.60 -5.43%
Intuit Inc. (INTU) $215.89 -4.08%
Citrix Systems Inc. (CTXS) $125.31 -3.98%
Biogen Inc (BIIB) $288.02 -3.57%
KLA-Tencor Corp. (KLAC) $127.36 -3.53%